Lathe turned cabochons...

[Ed Davidson]

I've been using store-bought cabochons in bottle stoppers, yo-yos and boxes for quite a while, and have always been frustrated with the very limited selection of round cabs (color, texture material and size). So, with all the polyester resin stuff I've been playing with recently, decided to try making (turning) some cabs from scratch...here's my first batch:

The brown one's are made from powdered oxidized copper in a PR casting. All the others are cast fine glitter.

The little Maple box is my first application of a homebrew cabochon. The box measures about 2.5" x 2.5" and the cab is 1.5" in diameter.

[Tom Mullane]

They do work nice don't they Ed... and a lot cheaper than store bought...
That is why I started doing them for my bottle stoppers....
One of these days I will start casting my own material.... but for now will use what cut offs I have from pen blanks... I really like that brown with copper one... is that brown dye and the copper added or just the copper in clear cast..

[Ed Davidson]

Thanks Tom...the brown cabs are made from straight copper powder mixed in clear PR.

[Ernie Nyvall]

Those look great Ed.

Where do you get the PR and the copper dust?

Ernie

[Ed Davidson]

Ernie,

Follow these links:

PR molding process, including suppliers: http://www.penturners.org/content/PR_Instructions.pdf

Powdered metal supplier: http://www.houstonart.com/metalicpowderbraceletforms.asp